hyperphoria in my way, Need Help!!

[Skydud85]

I need some help, I just got back from NAS-Jax where I took my MANI physical, I passed everything with flying colors except for one thing, I have hyperphoria in my left eye of 1.75 prism diopters or something like that. Theres got to be a way to get retested for this or get around it, I can't let something that has no effect on my vision keep me from this. I'm 20/20 in my right eye and 20/25 in my left, and I know i can get 20/20 in the left on a better day.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!

 

[das]

From NAMI Waiver Guide - Ophthalmology:

12.6 EXCESSIVE PHORIAS

AEROMEDICAL CONCERNS: Excessive phorias are frequently associated with defective stereopsis and/or diplopia, a devastating state if this occurs during a critical phase of flight.

WAIVER: CD for Class I aviators. No waivers are considered.

INFORMATION REQUIRED:

1. Evaluation by an eye professional or an ophthalmologically proficient flight surgeon is necessary.

2. The consult should address any history of diploplia or previous eye surgery, and include all the studies requested on the accompanying ocular motility worksheet.

ICD-9 CODES:

378.4 Excessive Phorias
378.41 Esophoria
378.42 Exophoria
378.43 Hyperphoria

From NAMI Waiver Guide - Physical Standards, 1.5 Class I Standards, Naval Aviators and Student Naval Aviators (SNA):

Oculomotor Balance:

(1) No uncorrected esophoria more than 6.0 prism diopters.
(2) No uncorrected exophoria more than 6.0 prism diopters.
(3) No uncorrected hyperphoria more than 1.50 prism diopters.

Also, hyperphoria doesn't have anything to do with your eyesight in each eye; it's a slight misalignment of one eye with respect to the other, which a person's brain usually compensates for. The worry is double-vision (diplopia) under certain conditions, and that can happen even if you are 20/10 in each eye. Something that might never impact one person might be dangerous for another - or, something that may never have affected you in life may when you're in a disorienting aviation setting that your brain doesn't know how to compensate for...or, it could never cause you any problems at all. But as you can tell by now, the standards are all about using statistics to weed people out.

I'd get tested again on your own and see what you find...also, there appear to be treatments out there that range from "retraining" the eye muscles to surgery that attempts to correct the cause...but since you are so close to the limit and because surgery may be something that isn't waiverable in any event, you might try to see if you can explore other options.

 

[Skydud85]

Thanks for the advice, I defintily see what you mean with the standards playing the stats, It just sucks when you have everything it takes physically and mentaly to acheive a goal and something like this gets in the way

 

[das]

Agree completely. And since you're so close to the limit, it might be worth looking into techniques to help correct it. Here's one thing I found:

http://www.coopereyecare.com/Vertical Deviation_dir/Vertical Deviation_s.htm

The consensus seems to be that eye exercises (orthoptic exercises) don't necessarily work for all hyperphorias, but can help a bit...and if all you need is a slight correction, that might be it. The other thing is it might be intermittent, so if you go to an eye doctor and on the day you're there it's less than 1.5, certainly that could be something valuable to bring up.

I notice also they say no uncorrected hyperphoria...which imples, to me, that there is a process they will accept to correct it. Now it's up to you to start digging and find out what that might be. Does it means lenses? Surgery? Exercises? Something else?

If you have gotten this far, don't give up!

 

[rockymartin21]

sucks

Ah man that sucks that you are so close and have everything physically and mentally ready for the job. I really hope you are able to figure out the eye problem. I wish you luck!

 

[burningfeathers]

I am a vicitim of phoria as well.....I hope you have better luck than I did....If not, welcome to the wonderful world of the SNFO

 

[BACONATOR]

Apparently he doesn't have everything physically.

Just sayin...